Swing quartet

A seven-game losing streak fueled by a 20-inning scoreless drought exploded as the Sox erupted for four home runs in a six-run fourth inning off five-time Cy Young Award winner Randy Johnson en route to a 6-2 victory over the New York Yankees before a sellout crowd of 39,480.

The Sox (76-46) won their first game since beating New York on Aug. 10 at Yankee Stadium while maintaining their 81/2-game lead over Cleveland in the American League Centraland their sanity.

The stabilizing force was mercurial Jose Contreras (8-7), who beat his former team for the second time in as many starts and finally was supported with the team's biggest rally since July 22, when the Sox scored six times in the sixth inning of a victory over Boston.

"To shut down that lineup of his old team and with a lot of emotion there " said Paul Konerko, who hit the Sox's third consecutive homer in the fourth. "We were due to score some runs. I don't think that's a big deal. But [Contreras] pitched a huge game. It might be the biggest game of the year, all things considered and what he and we were up against.

"If it all works out for us, I'll look back on this game, and I hope other people do."

Manager Ozzie Guillen was pleased that his players, especially his hitters, responded to his message after Saturday's 5-0 loss, after which he said he was "embarrassed" by the lack of quality at-bats.

"It was probably surprising that he held it in that long," said catcher Chris Widger, who capped the rally with a three-run homer off Johnson. "It wasn't for lack of effort. Everyone was trying."

Widger's homer snapped an 0-for-32 lifetime mark against the Yankees.

Tadahito Iguchi ignited the rally with a homer off Johnson, whom the Sox pursued last winter until Arizona asked for pitchers Mark Buehrle and Freddy Garcia and either outfield prospect Brian Anderson or Ryan Sweeney.

"It feels good," Iguchi said through his interpreter. "Everyone knows [Johnson] in Japan and here."

The Sox felt even better about their execution against Johnson, who allowed only four hits besides those in the fourth and retired the final nine batters. They also adjusted well in their second at-bats to the breaking pitches Johnson was throwing.

Widger said hitting coach Greg Walker "told everyone that most of [Johnson's] outs are made with a fastball in and slider in. And when he throws inside at 95 m.p.h., we're not going to hit him anyway. Our approach was to hit it down over the middle and away."

The homer by Iguchi and the one that followed by Aaron Rowand were opposite-field shots. Juan Uribe executed a hit-and-run play with a single to right that preceded Widger's homer, snapping a 2-for-10 rut with six strikeouts against Johnson.

"I like to see it more often," Guillen said of the opposite-field approach. "We try to jack everything out of the park. We're not home run hitters. We have guys who can drive the ball, and hopefully it carries to the next trip."

The top of the Sox's order constantly squared to bunt against Johnson, and even slugger Jermaine Dye legged out a bunt single in the sixth.

Guillen wasn't bothered that Pablo Ozuna was picked off after stealing second or that Contreras made an errant pickoff throw that set up the Yankees' first run in the third.

"When you're not playing well, everything was magnified," Guillen said.

The Sox felt they were overdue for an eruption.

"I knew we'd eventually bust out," said Konerko, who returned after missing two games with a strained back. "The sooner, the better. You just don't know until it happens."